City watchdog: Fire 54 firefighters for alleged fraud

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Chicago’s Inspector General is recommending the termination of 54 firefighters assigned to the Fire Department’s scandal-scarred Fire Prevention Bureau for allegedly falsifying mileage used to reimburse them for driving their personal vehicles to inspections.

The alleged fraud cost Chicago taxpayers more than $100,000 in 2009 alone, but has been going on for years, the sources said.

Confronted with evidence from GPS-equipped cell phones that have tracked several firefighters’ movements since a 2007 scandal, sources said the firefighters have acknowledged padding their mileage expenses, in some cases for their entire careers.

“Some flat out said, ‘This is what we’re told to do. This is the way we’ve always done it, and I’ve been here since 1991,’” said a source familiar with the investigation.

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